Stalking a Bunny
by Halunygin
Summary: Sirius likes Severus. While he acts like a drama queen because he thinks his feelings are one-sided, he finds a bunny. A black bunny who bites and scratches sometimes.


**A/N: First of all, this is my first fic to hit and pass 2k words, so yay, me. I wrote this for my pride collection, but it kind of got away from that theme. It is rather long and crazy, but I am proud of it.**

 **Entry for the Choose Your Own Wand challenge, type of magic: Transfiguration**

* * *

There were a few things in Sirius's life that were certain. For one, he and the marauders would be best friends forever. For another, his mother would never accept him. And three, he would always hate Severus Snape.

The first two seemed to be proving true. The last one not so much.

Snape had been an enemy of the marauders since their first train ride to Hogwarts. It was only natural, they were Gryffindors and he was a Slytherin. Although in all actuality, Sirius and his best friend, James, were the only ones that actively antagonized him. James was jealous of Snape's friendship with Lily Evans, a beautiful redhead in their house.

And Sirius? Well, if you'd asked him a month ago, he would have insisted that his hatred for Snape was as great as his cousin Bellatrix's love for torturing people and animals. However, now he couldn't say that without some tiny voice in the back of his head that reminded him greatly of the third marauder, Remus, saying, "Really?"

Because Sirius was noticing things about Snape. Things that he should not notice about other blokes. Like how the Slytherin's hair was less greasy and more silky, and he really wanted to touch it. Snape's eyes were also this shiny blue-black, and on several occasions, Sirius had to remind himself to stop staring, if only because Snape would notice.

There was also the fact that Sirius was more acutely aware of the way Snape sat in class all rigid and anxious. As if something were going to explode around him. He walked down the hallway with his books pulled to his chest, narrowing his eyes at anyone who looked his way, as if daring them to say something mean. It made his stomach churn because he knew it was at least partly his fault that Snape was always on edge. So Sirius posed to the marauders that they should cut back on Snape for a while. James had looked skeptical, until Sirius made the claim that it would be even funnier to lure Snape into a false sense of security. The other marauders seemed indifferent. Peter shrugged and returned to his Charms essay. Remus, who knew exactly why Sirius was proposing this, said nothing and resumed reading his book, a small smirk on his face.

So Sirius tried to go about his life as if Snape was not on his mind. But no matter how many pranks he pulled or girls he snogged in broom cupboards and empty classrooms, he kept thinking about the Slytherin.

It was during one of these restless periods that the dog animagus found himself wandering the halls after lunch, the marauder's map in hand. He had taken up the habit of tracking Snape's dot. Remus would say his behaviors were stalkerish, but he wasn't that far. Toeing the line, perhaps.

However, when he did a preliminary scan of the grounds, he did not see the Slytherin's name. He checked it again, not looking where he was going, and tripped. He wondered over what as he scrambled to his feet, the map fluttering through the air. The map hadn't show anyone else in the hallway. He erased the map and folded it up. That's when he saw the bunny.

It was small and black, and its ears looked disheveled. Its leg seemed to be injured and it was trying to limp away. Sirius gingerly picked it up, and it squirmed and squealed, plainly terrified.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

The bunny seemed reluctant to believe his words and gave him the stink eye. Sirius didn't even know animals _could_ give the stink eye.

"Hey, I'm not the one who hurt your leg," Sirius defended himself. "What were you doing all alone anyway? Where's your owner?"

The bunny didn't answer, still trying to get free of Sirius's grip. The animagus lifted it up in the air.

"Well, you're definitely a boy."

The bunny let out a piercing squeak at this.

"Stop that, I'm taking you back to my dorm," Sirius said, giving the bunny a stern look. "I'll get you patched up, don't worry."

This seemed to further agitate the bunny, and he went so far as to scratch Sirius's wrist. The marauder then bopped the bunny on the head, startling him into submission.

"No," he admonished lightly. Sirius swore the bunny gave him an incredulous look as he started heading back to Gryffindor tower. He seemed to doze off in his arms, and Sirius gave him a fond look.

"You know," he started as he entered the common room. "When you're not freaking the fuck out, you're pretty cute."

The bunny replied to this with a squeaky yawn.

If Sirius's fellow Gryffindors were surprised to see him conversing with a bunny, and they likely weren't, they didn't show it, and Sirius was able to slip up to his dorm easily.

The only person present was Remus, which was a relief, because the werewolf was very adept at healing spells. He looked up from his Transfiguration notes and smiled.

"Hey, where have you been?" Double-take and eyebrow raise. "Sirius, is that a rabbit?"

"No, it's a bunny," Sirius replied, placing the black fluffball on his bed. The bunny sat up, very alert now.

"My mistake. What I meant was, where did it come from?" Remus pressed.

Sirius shook his head. "Now Moony, am I going to have to explain the birds and the bees to you again?"

Remus gave him a bored look. "Pads, did you steal someone's pet or not?"

"I found him," Sirius retorted. "He was in the hallway with a hurt leg all alone, the poor dear," he crooned, smoothing down the bunny's ears, to which he made a contented hum. "Will you heal him, please?"

Remus shook his head at the fact that Sirius was referring to the animal as a he and placed his book face down. "I'll try my best." He grabbed his wand and crouched down beside Sirius's bed. "What were you doing wandering the halls anyway?"

Sirius shrugged and made a noncommittal noise.

"Sirius?"

"I was watching Snape's dot on the map," the animagus muttered.

The bunny made a confused squeak and slipped on Sirius's comforter. Remus sighed.

"Again? Sirius, this is getting out of hand. Oi," he added, pulling the bunny back up. "Careful, wouldn't want you to further injure yourself."

"I can't help it, Moony," Sirius groaned. "He's in my head all the time. I track him so I can avoid him outside of class. Because when I see him, I imagine shoving him up against a wall and-"

"Okay, you've made your point," Remus interrupted with a scrunched up nose, missing the gasp from the animal on the bed. "But you should tell him, even at the risk of being hexed." The werewolf sighed again. "I've never seen you so interested in someone, and I want you to be happy."

"You're such a girl, Moony," Sirius said, punching Remus's shoulder, but there was an soft underlying gratitude in his tone.

Remus raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I'm a girl, but you're the one fantasizing about Snape's-"

Sirius clapped a hand over the werewolf's mouth. "Not in front of the bunny!"

"Pads, it's an animal, it's hardly going to tell the school's top gossips," Remus reminded him, prising his hand off his mouth. "Are you now?"

The bunny was staring at them blankly, and Sirius smoothed his fur back once more.

"You know, he reminds me of Snape. Like he was grouchy when I first picked him up, but then I showed him I wasn't a threat and he was fine."

Remus rolled his eyes as he tapped the bunny's leg with his wand. "I'm shocked. Am I going to have to worry about you stealing this bunny because he has the same mannerisms as Snape?"

"His owner let him roam free and get hurt," Sirius pointed out, picking up the fully healed bunny. "I'd do him a favor. Besides, he's so cute, Moony, how can you resist this squishy bunny face?"

"Stop it, you know rabbits are easy prey for wolves," Remus said, pushing the bunny away from his face. "You can't keep him forever, you know that."

"Remus, I'm suffering from unrequited affection, at the very least let me have this pet."

"You don't know that Snape doesn't like you too," the werewolf reminded him. "In fact, you're going to tell him right now."

"What?" Sirius exclaimed, and the bunny let out a squeal of equal surprise and fear.

"Give me the map, we'll find him, and you'll get this off your chest once and for all."

Sirius groaned, but gave the map to the werewolf anyway.

"I couldn't find him earlier, I think it's fritzing."

"It can't be, the map doesn't fritz," Remus said shortly as he scanned the map. "Wait, what? Where is he?"

Sirius shrugged and then turned to the bunny. "What wrong with you?"

The bunny was now pacing the length of Sirius's bed and squeaking madly. There was a loud stomping of footsteps on the staircase and a faint voice.

"Lily, wait!"

Their door was forced open to reveal an irate redhead, James close behind.

"Alright, out with it, Black, what'd you do to him?"

"Evans, as usual, screaming and making no bloody sense," Sirius scowled. The redhead irritated him to no end.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Lily snarled.

Remus stepped in and inquired gently, "We really don't, Lily. What's wrong?"

The redhead crossed her arms. "Severus is missing. I haven't seen him all day and neither have his housemates." She turned to glare at James. "Since Potter is literally incapable of lying to me, Black must have done something. So fess up. The sooner you tell me, the sooner I can cross kicking your ass off my to do list.

"I didn't do anything," Sirius insisted, and scooped up the bunny, who was struggling to leave his grip. "Calm down, you're scaring him."

"Padfoot, where the hell did you get a rabbit?" James asked. Remus's eyes darted from Lily to the bunny and he gasped.

"Potter, really, this is more pressing," Lily waved a hand. She sighed. "Look, I know you guys don't like him, but he's my best friend and I'm worried."

"You're not the only one, trust me," Sirius muttered in a low tone. If Snape couldn't be located on the map, he was possibly off the grounds and in real danger. Lily raised an eyebrow at his words.

"I think I know what happened to him."

Remus was standing with his Transfiguration textbook in hand. "I'll explain once we're out of the tower. Sirius, keep a grip on him," he added, gesturing to the bunny.

The confused teens followed the werewolf down the stairs and out of the common room. Remus lead them into Flitwick's classroom.

"Alright, spill, Remus," Lily said impatiently. Remus opened his textbook and flipped through it.

"You haven't seen Snape all day, right?"

"Yeah, we had breakfast together and then split up for class," Lily confirmed. "He doesn't always come to the hall for lunch, so I wasn't worried until he didn't show up at our usual time in the library."

Remus nodded. "And Sirius, you said you didn't see his name on the map after lunch. What about before?"

"It was there right before lunch," Sirius replied, ignoring James's puzzled look and Lily's curious smirk. "But you already seem to know where he is, so tell us, Moony."

The werewolf continued to turn the pages and until he let out a sound of triumph.

"Right. That bunny you found doesn't belong to a student or staff member. It's Snape."

James and Lily let out gasps of shock and confusion, but the bunny squealed in confirmation and jumped out of Sirius's limp hands and onto Flitwick's desk.

"Okay, this shouldn't hurt," Remus told the bunny, raising his wand. "Revertar ad hunc modum ex!"

Immediately, the tiny black bunny was gone and replaced by a pale teenager with straight black hair who was laying on the desk groaning. His eyes were closed.

"Are you okay, Sev?" Lily ventured.

"Apart from total shame and embarrassment, yeah, sure," was the droll reply. "I'm just grateful to have opposable thumbs again."

"You're welcome, by the way," Remus said dryly. "How'd this all happen?"

Snape - it felt odd calling him by his surname after the entire ordeal, Severus, sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Just some idiots in my house, I probably offended them with my superior intellect. I find it difficult to keep track of their reasoning."

Lily hugged him tightly. "Thank god, I thought you were dead."

Severus met Sirius's gaze over Lily's shoulder. "Over dramatic much? Lils, I'm fine, I was in good hands."

It really wasn't suggestive, but Sirius flushed all the same. Remus shut his book and folded up the map.

"I know you two have a lot to talk about, so we'll get out of your hair."

Lily let go of Snape and nodded.

James was still quite bewildered as Remus pulled him out of the room. "But I don't get it, why-"

"We'll tell you later, James," Lily sighed with a smile. She winked at the boys before closing the door.

The room was silent as Sirius stood awkwardly and Severus sat calmly on the desk across from him. Finally, the animagus bit the bullet, as muggles would say.

"So you heard everything I said?"

Severus nodded. "Every word."

"Super," Sirius groaned, a hand over his eyes as he slumped into a seat. "Don't mind me, I'm just going to lock myself in the book cupboard and never come out."

"What happens after you pin me to the wall?"

Sirius removed his hand. Severus was looking at the ground, a half-smile curling around his mouth and a pale pink flush to his face.

"You - I mean - really?"

"Yes, really, you nimrod," the Slytherin said with a frown, still avoiding Sirius's gaze as he crossed his arms in an attempt to regain his dignified composure. "I like you too. Unless you were just kidding about that stuff?"

Sirius stood up and walked over to Severus, who was chewing his lip determinedly. "I definitely wasn't," he whispered.

Severus's mouth curled back into a half-smile. "Good to know. So what now?"

"Well, I believe you asked me a question regarding a wall?" Sirius grinned, placing a light kiss on the Slytherin's lips. Severus blushed and the animagus tapped his nose, making it twitch. "Looks like your still have some residual effects from being a bunny."

"Less bringing up trauma, more kissing," Severus murmured, pulling Sirius closer by his tie.

And Sirius wasn't about to argue with that.


End file.
